Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle.
– Fred Rogers

You are welcome to come to the potluck at the rise of semi-programmed worship today! As with most things here, potlucks are do-it-yourself affairs. Look for ways to help with the effort – help clear, wash and put away tables and chairs and help wash, dry and put away dishes. Many hands mean everyone will have time to enjoy a May afternoon!

UPCOMING MEETING EVENTS

Next Sunday, May 8th, at 9:45 – worship with attention to business. Friends are encouraged to come to this time of discernment, decision-making and community-building.

Sunday, May 15th at 10:15 – Come and celebrate the membership of Elizabeth and Andy Showalter! Hear some of their journey which brought them to MFM and enjoy light refreshments and visiting.

At 10:15 on the final Sunday of the school year schedule, May 24th, first day school children will be serving breakfast in the lower level. There will be discussion topics offered for each table.

For the summer schedule, starting May 29th, there will be one, joint 10:00 worship, followed by coffee and conversation (if there are volunteers to support that effort.) In the summer, an all-Meeting potluck will be at 11:00 on first Sundays. On second Sundays in the summer months, worship with attention to business will follow 10:00 worship and will begin at 11:00. Worship on first and third Sundays will be unprogrammed. Worship on second and fourth Sundays will be semi-programmed. Worship on fifth Sundays will be determined at May’s business meeting.

Listen to this week’s Quaker Speak: The Quaker Practice of Discernment: quakerspeak.com/quaker-practice-discernment/

Caring for Creation tip: Flying (especially on short flights) is among the least sustainable ways to travel. Some airlines allow you to compensate for the carbon footprint you create when flying by buying carbon offsets. If you fly Delta or United, you can calculate your carbon footprint on the airline website which equates the size of a trip’s carbon footprint with a dollar figure. You can then donate money or miles to a carbon reduction project such as forest conservation or renewable energy.

A memorial service for Adolph Burckhardt will be held here on Sunday, May 15, at 2 pm. Friends are welcome to bring a bag lunch and eat together after worship and before the memorial service.

OTHER HAPPENINGS AMONG QUAKERS

Friends General Conference 2016 Gathering registration – online or via phone. Financial aid is available but often as a matching grant for funds received from monthly or yearly meetings. There are also some work grants available. Contact Pat Jones about funds available. View the information online by googling: 2016 FGC gathering advance program. Find paper copies on the elevator table. The FGC Gathering is from July 3-9 at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN.

Camp Woodbrooke, a Quaker-inspired camp in southwestern Wisconsin, offers a community experience of Quaker traditions – simplicity, harmony, peace, responsibility, and equality – integrating these values into daily activities from the rising bell to the fall of night. See more at campwoodbrooke.org .

Friends Music Camp has deep Quaker roots and strong dedication to the arts. For young people ages 10-18, it is held at Earlham College in Richmond, IN, July 10-August 7, and offers the pursuit of musical excellence while participating in a caring community – inspiring growth, both musical and spiritual. For more, visit friendsmusiccamp.org .

Embracing Our Young Women, an organization started by Nettie Smith and others to support young women living on the North Side. They are looking for gifts of fabric- bright colors and patterns. They are making sofa pillows and other things. Donations of batting would also be useful. Contact Nettie for more.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

An observance of Yom Ha Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Fri, May 13th, 7:00 pm at Twin Cities Friends Meeting, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul. A talk on the rescue efforts by Quakers in Nazi Germany will be followed by yiddish music for meditation, similar to the music offered here last autumn. Free will donations at the door – proceeds to Doctors Without Borders.

A series of rain garden workshops will be offered by the City of Minneapolis – to help keep lakes and rivers clean and recharge groundwater while creating a beautiful and pollinator-friendly habitat: May 18 at Pearl Park; May 21 at North Regional Library. Space is limited. Register or more at: metroblooms.org; 651-699-2426.

Support Just Community Solar: MN Interfaith Power and Light is working to simultaneously address racial, economic, and environmental injustice by building Just Community Solar gardens. Active campaigns are in St Peter, St Cloud, Arrowhead, the Metro Area, and Xcel and CenterPoint territory. Learn more at mnipl.org/calendar-new/faith-climate-action-week/take-action.html and be in touch if you would like to run a campaign in your faith community! Contact julia(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)mnipl.org for more.

OFFICE HOURS

Pat Jones’ work week is Wed-Sun. She will be in the office Wed. from 2:00-5:00 and other times Wed, Thurs, Fri. and Sat.

Carolyn VandenDolder, the Administrative Assistant, will be in Wed. afternoon and Fri. Bulletin deadline, noon Thur. Bulletin items can be phoned in to the office, emailed, or written and put in the bulletin file of the blue box.